Name: Rich Sweet Apple Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb bread crumbs; ½ lb suet, finely chopped; ½ lb currants, washed and dried; ½ lb apples, peeled, cored, and chopped; ½ lb moist sugar; 3 eggs (whites of 3 eggs omitted); 12 sweet almonds, minced; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; ⅓ cup brandy

Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Rich Sweet Apple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

In a large bowl, mix the bread crumbs, suet, currants, apples, sugar, nutmeg, and minced almonds.
Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture, stirring well to combine.
Add the brandy and mix until everything is evenly incorporated.

Steam and serve

Transfer the mixture into a buttered mold and cover it tightly with a cloth.
Place the mold in boiling water and let it boil for 3 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,115 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,291 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Currant + appletop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Provide the bulk and body that hold the pudding together.
Suet: Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it steams.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm during cooking.
Moist sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and its molasses notes deepen the flavor.
Currants: Add concentrated sweet-tart fruit flavor and chewy texture.
Brandy: Adds aroma and flavor to the pudding.

The step that matters

Sealing and steaming the mold. The cloth must cover the mold tightly and the mold must stay submerged in gently boiling water for the full 3 hours. Loose covering lets water seep in and makes the pudding soggy, while uneven heat or a low boil leaves the center underset.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, apple, sugar, egg, almond, nutmeg, brandy):

Figfits better
Vanillafits better
Apricotfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, apple, sugar, egg, almond, nutmeg, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Rich Sweet Apple Pudding